Further Reading

Historically, earlier iterations of the OnePlus handset have been notoriously difficult to acquire, forcing customers to sign up to a weird invite scheme or to patronise obscure online retailers and obliging them to use SIM-only deals. Its fourth iteration however, the OnePlus 3 (which we rate very highly), is not only available invite-free but it'll also now be available on a range of standard O2 tariffs.

Further Reading

The Chinese startup was launched as an explicit bid to shake up the industry, with the OnePlus 3 debuting at an RRP of just £309 and boasting a Snapdragon 820 processor, 64GB of storage, and 6GB RAM. The price has risen to £329 following the Brexit vote, but that's still very decent value for the specs.

“As the only operator in the UK to sell the OnePlus 3, we’re proud to be bringing our customers more choice when it comes to picking their next flagship phone,” said Magnus McDonald, O2's head of devices. “The OnePlus 3 offers high-quality cutting-edge technology and great design at an affordable price and we think our customers will love it.”

"We chose O2 as our exclusive partner in this important market because they have a history of focusing on the most premium smartphones for the most savvy users, which aligns very well with our products and users," added Carl Pei, co-founder of OnePlus. "We look forward to sending ripples through the market together with O2."

The full suite of tariffs has not yet been announced, but for £28 per month customers will get 500 minutes, unlimited texts, and 500MB of data—not exactly the kind of low price you'd expect from a handset whose stated goal is to deliver top specs for nearly half the price of big-name rivals. For £35.50 per month, you'll get unlimited minutes, unlimited texts, and 3GB of data. Neither tariff has upfront charges at least.

The OnePlus 3 also boasts a feature it calls "dash charge," which is supposed to provide "a day's power" with just half an hour plugged into the wall, a decent 16MP back camera, and a 5.5-inch AMOLED display.

The OnePlus 3 will go on sale in O2 stores and online from September 29. The full tariffs will be announced at http://www.o2.co.uk/oneplus3 on the day.

O2's basic tariff for the OnePlus 3 barely seems worth it, 500MB at £28pm is going to get even a light user pushing through that limit and over the 24 month contract period your total is going to come to at least £672.

If you can afford to do it you're best buying the handset outright at £329, getting a GiffGaff sim (uses O2's network) and buying their £12 'goody bag'. You'll get 4 times the amount of data and you'll still have saved £55 at the end of the 24 months (cheaper plans could be used to save more).

I'm sure there are even better ways to do it, but it just seems that network operators are really trying to milk contract users these days versus buying a phone outright.

The Oneplus 3 is a great phone, although i bought mine straight out rather than contract. I've used Nexus phones for the last 5 years but decided on a 1+3 after seeing the specs and after seeing the looks of the pixel phones, and to be honest I am really surprised just how good it is.

The 'OxygenOS' Android rom installed on the 1+3 is very near to that 'Pure Android' experience which you get with Nexus phones but with some subtle tweaks to allow a bit more customisation. The team behind OxygenOS are the same devs who did the Paranoid Android custom roms and they clearly know how to make a decent rom.

Oneplus are also rolling frequent updates out and we're already running the latest sept 1st security patches. Also a very good build quality for a phone of this price.

I got a 1+3 about 2 months ago after my LG G4 decided to brick itself (and I couldn't be bothered getting a replacement, never liked that phone). Anyway, £329 is great value for such a high end phone. I had the Nexus 5 and loved it, but this is brilliant. Almost stock Android and the charging time is great. In less than an hour, it can go from 0 to 100% charged.

What I wouldn't do, however, is go on contract with it. Too expensive in my view. If you can save up for one, get it outright. Don't get locked in by O2.